SBIR Phase I: Terahertz Imaging Radar for Law Enforcement

SBIR 第一阶段：用于执法的太赫兹成像雷达

• 批准号: 2301538
• 负责人: Nathan Monroe
• 金额: $ 27.49万
• 依托单位: CAMBRIDGE TERAHERTZ INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301538&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Terahertz; Imaging; Radar

This broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will improve public safety by furthering terahertz radar imaging technology for concealed threat detection. With increasing cases of weapons violence and mass casualty events across the nation, and an increase in the difficulty of detecting non-metallic weapons such as 3D-printed firearms and ceramic knives, a significant gap exists in threat detection technologies. This solution addresses a recognized need in an approximately $2 billion market which includes law enforcement and event venue security. Existing approaches (such as airport scanners and walkthrough metal detectors) are expensive, intrusive, and inconvenient or leave large gaps in detection capability. Terahertz radar imaging promises the performance of gold-standard airport scanners in a consumer grade, portable, and discreet device. By demonstrating a terahertz radar transceiver, this Phase I effort will de-risk a key technical element of this technology, which is critical for security applications and beyond. If successful, this project represents a significant step forward in addressing society’s concealed threat detection issues.The intellectual merit of this project revolves around the design, implementation, fabrication and testing of a terahertz radar transceiver, a key component in the approach used in a personnel screening device. No such transceiver is currently available to purchase on the open market, let alone at the costs and volumes required for the proposed commercial applications. When paired with other elements of the imaging system, the result will be a three-dimensional radar imager which is capable of “seeing through” dielectric materials such as fabrics and detecting concealed weapons and contraband, both metallic and non-metallic. The transceiver design effort will feature development of components such as frequency multipliers, amplifiers and mixers, and their electrical, mechanical, and thermal integration into a larger imaging system. This design phase will prioritize achieving cost, yield, and scalability metrics compatible with mass manufacture and widespread deployment. Key considerations involved in this effort are the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Dynamic Range (DR) of the system, both important metrics in imaging performance and therefore weapons detection capability. The project leverages recent advances in terahertz integrated circuit technology. The anticipated result is the experimental demonstration of such a component for integration into the fully functional imaging systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

随着全国范围内武器暴力和大规模伤亡事件的增加，这一小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将通过进一步发展用于隐蔽威胁检测的太赫兹雷达成像技术来改善公共安全。由于检测 3D 打印枪支和陶瓷刀等非金属武器的难度较大，因此威胁检测技术存在巨大差距，该解决方案满足了包括执法和活动场所安全在内的约 20 亿美元市场的公认需求。现有的方法（例如机场扫描仪和步行式金属探测器）价格昂贵、侵入性强且不方便，或者在检测能力方面存在很大差距，但太赫兹雷达成像在消费级、便携式和隐蔽设备中具有黄金标准的机场扫描仪的性能。通过展示太赫兹雷达收发器，第一阶段的工作将降低该技术的关键技术要素的风险，这对于安全应用及其他应用至关重要。如果成功，该项目代表着在解决问题方面向前迈出了重要一步。该项目的智力价值围绕太赫兹雷达收发器的设计、实施、制造和测试，太赫兹雷达收发器是人员筛查设备中使用的方法的关键组件，目前尚无此类收发器可供购买。开放市场，更不用说商业应用所需的成本和数量了。当与成像系统的其他元件配合使用时，其结果将是能够“透视”电介质材料的三维雷达成像仪。收发器设计工作的重点是开发倍频器、放大器和混频器等组件，并将其电气、机械和热集成到更大的成像系统中。该阶段将优先考虑实现与大规模制造和广泛部署兼容的成本、产量和可扩展性指标，这一工作涉及的关键考虑因素是系统的信噪比（SNR）和动态范围（DR），这两个指标都是重要的指标。该项目利用了太赫兹集成电路技术的最新进展，对这种组件进行了实验演示，以将其集成到功能齐全的成像系统中。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并被视为是。值得通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。